$\begin{aligned}&\phantom{{\times}}9\\ \\ &\underline{\times1}\\ \\ \end{aligned}$ $~~$
We can think of ${9} \times {1}$ as $9$ groups of $1$ circle: How many circles are there? $\begin{aligned}&\phantom{{\times}}9\\ \\ &\underline{\times1}\\ \\ &\phantom{{\times}}9 \end{aligned}$